CEA-PME Meets with Commissioner Oettinger and MEPs to Discuss "an Erasmus for SMEs" in the future EU Budget

CEA-PME European Entrepreneurs organised a visit to the European Parliament and the European Commission to meet with key decision-makers and discuss the future of SMEs in Europe, particularly in relation to the ongoing debate about the structure of the EU Budget after 2020.

The confederation met with Commissioner Günther Oettinger, responsible for the EU Budget, and with his member of cabinet Mr. Schulte. During the meeting, CEA-PME's representatives had occasion to explain the widespread benefits of "an ERASMUS for SMEs" that had been very succesfully tested through the MobiliseSME project, with the idea that a program could be planned in the next seven-years programmes' planning to follow on its achievement. They also presented the important role SMEs can have in supporting the EU's foreign policy, particularly in reference to investments in Africa, with a possible program called SME4Africa.

Equally important was the meeting with the European Parliament's Budget Committee Chair Jean Arthuis, to whom the same ideas and projects were presented. The delegation also met with the Head of Cabinet of the European Parliament's President Antonio Tajani, Carlo Corazza, and with the EP's Vice President Rainer Wieland.